(glasses clinking) Happy New Year! And yes….another day, another year and the wind-up is so full of joy and hope and expectation, as it should be. I hope, I see, I somehow try and dig deep to live out my faith BUT, oh the pain-in-the-ass but…..comes flying by to sting like a bee. Yeah, get me some Ali to actually float like a butterfly and sting like a bee back…but I digress. And that is exactly it, I digress. My world is full of noise and talk and my expectations, my spouse’s expectations, my families expectations, my job(s) expectations,…..and the ‘but’ still lingers on, like a Greek chorus in the background. But what, you pain-in-the-ass lingerer. I don’t care about buts, because often they just keep me off focus, they are a digresser amidst all the digressions around me. So I join in the Greek chorus with ‘But’. But….I can also slow down and be present to fully embrace what I am feeling or thinking. But…I can stop just thinking it’s about my lens, my world, my wants generally (because most of us in this country generally have what we need and if we don’t have access, which in some cases is true…that’s a whole other conversation :/…Buuuttt, I will now engage you and pivot and not make assumptions on what road you will lead me down because the contrast and/or contradiction you would like to presume on me will just add another color to my kaleidoscope lens.
I’m simply human, and to me that is just a pile of emotions and thoughts, some more clearer than others. What do I hope for in 2024? Joy and hope of peace and compassion,…oh yes. Empathy and love and me being challenged to be more like Jesus – hell yeah. I am simply (in a straightforward or plain manner) human (being). And what I don’t want…is another sleek facade of bullshit or a veneer of gloss and catchy over-used keywords. In the voice of Arnold S…’Let me pump you up man!’ Gross. I realize now as I approach and sit in my middle-agedness that I’m tired of the overkill of human-branding going on from every angle on ‘How to be….’, there’s a place and space for that, but I think what’s more authentic is the work of being present enough to have a real conversation and listen to a story other than mine. I haven’t walked in your shoes. I don’t really know what is hard and what is easy for you. I do know what is hard and easy for me and I do know that for me to try and truly understand your point of view, stop and look through your telescope of life, I have to shut up, be still, listen and be still again to try and understand, assimilate your words in my brain to feel what I behold. So to all the folks I’ve been a jerk to…I’m sorry. I really am. I am too much a mix of emotions and my own thoughts, sometimes I don’t share the space. For 2024… I want to share the space more. I wish you joy and hope and all those good expectations, and space. I wish you space for you and space to share. xo, Joy
Joy Storytelling 